Review of 2013/14

The Board of Management of Citywest Educate Together National School is particularly proud of the achievements of the school during the academic year 2013/14. We thank all of our partners and community members for their support this year.In September 2013, the school expanded dramatically. Having left in June 2013 with 27 pupils and two teachers, we returned in September with 95 pupils and 6 teachers, 5 of them in our school on a full-time basis. In one summer, we grew from one multi-grade classroom to four single-grade classrooms, including our first double stream of Junior Infants. In September 2014, we expect to grow further to have approx 156 pupils, 9 full-time teachers, 1 part-time teacher and 7 single-grade classrooms.We appointed our first Deputy Principal, Ross Ó Corráin, and also added Anita Collings to our In-School Management team. We appointed a school secretary, Nicola McClurg, and a new school caretaker, John McManus. Cleaning of the school is now managed by a cleaning company, Rombis Cleaning.Our Board of Management welcomed three new members - Massimo Fermo (parent nominee, male), Norma Healy (Patron nominee) and Maggie Etherson (staff nominee) - and appointed a new Chairperson, Austin O’Sullivan.This year saw the creation of both our first Parents’ Association and our first Student Council. Both have kept busy since being appointed. Our PA have organised an Easter disco, our first cake sale and Jersey Day. They also provided refreshments for a number of school events, advised the school on a number of issues and coordinated the allocation of parents to policy groups. Our Student Council helped to organise Sports Day, greeted parents of our new Junior Infant pupils and set up new stations for hula hoops at yard time. They have lots more ideas, which they hope to implement before handing over the reins to the next Student Council.The Board of Management created a school development plan, setting out our priorities for policy creation in the school. We have started work on the plan, with a significant number of policies ratified this year. Teachers have completed School Self-Evaluation in both numeracy and literacy and School Improvement Plans are in place for both.We have been active in our community:

Our Junior Infants visited TLC nursing home in December and spent a lovely hour singing for the residents and chatting with them.

Our school was used as a polling station for the local and European elections.

Coaches from the local GAA club were welcomed to the school to work with the children on football and hurling skills.

The children also benefited from hockey coaching provided by Irish Hockey.

Not only did our school feature on The Echo’s School Around the Corner twice this year, but also our 1st class got up close and personal with the star of their cartoon, Lizzy Redmond, and were featured in that paper for their Twitter conversation with Lizzy.

As part of the Heritage in Schools programme, our pupils explored the local area with historian Dr. Thomas Kador.

As part of the Junior Achievement programme, our school welcomed Karen Malone from Pfizer Healthcare Ireland, to work with children on the topic of Our Families. Pfizer’s offices are located very close to our school and we are delighted to be making connections with local businesses.

As part of Educate Together’s One Day Together, our Junior Infant classes Skyped Newbridge ETNS.

Our pupils are often to be seen out and about in the community, going on a nature trail, posting letters and getting to know the area.

We developed an extensive after-school programme this year, with after-school classes available for all ages (3-12 years) and on all days of the week. Our classes included Speech and Drama, Irish dancing, French, Capoeira, Keyboard, Spanish, Music and Karate.We welcomed a number of adult students and volunteers to the school this year, from a broad range of backgrounds. These students included Transition Year students on work experience, Special Needs Assistant trainees, trainee teachers and students of Education. This benefitted the school by opening us up to new perspectives, by helping us to reflect on our practices and by having all of these extra people in the school to support learning. Citywest ETNS won our first ever award - the Discover Primary Science and Maths Award - for excellence in Science and Maths.We are also noted for our online presence, with 1st class pupils tweeting from the classroom and making connections locally as well as far and wide in this way. A number of classes used Skype to share learning with a school in Canada. Each class develops their own website also.Parents were involved in the school in a great way this year:

Huge Thank You to Emanuela Carvisiglia, who worked with the children in designing Dreamland, the beautiful mural that hangs inside our front door. Emanuela then hand-painted the children’s vision and we are proud to have it hanging in our school.

Mother Language Week was a great success, with 13 parents, grandparents and older siblings reading to the children in 8 different languages.

In excess of 20 parents volunteered to help out at our Sports Day and most children had a parent visit to enjoy the last part of the day with their children.

12 parents and grandparents joined us on our school tour to Glenroe Farm.

7 parents volunteered to work on school policies, alongside our teachers and Board members.

We regularly have parents volunteer to help with classes in the school - reading, ICT, art, ethical education and more.

As well as parent-teacher meetings, parents were invited to meet their child’s teacher and to hear about the work that teacher is doing with the class. The teachers intend to develop this further in the coming academic year.

The Board is delighted that our entrance has finally been opened and thanks parents for their cooperation with the car park plan that is in place. We also thank the residents of Swiftbrook and surrounding estates for their patience over the 20 months it took to get that gate opened.We had significant building work take place in Summer 2013, moving up to the 1st floor, with two classrooms and 2 support teaching rooms on that floor, as well as toilets and storage areas. Over Summer 2014, we have arranged for further work to take place. A secretary’s office will be added in the reception area, two classrooms on the second floor, a PE hall on the second floor and built-in storage for every classroom, as well as a PA system for the school. For added security for our children, the second door at the school entrance will become a security door, where visitors will need to be buzzed in. There will be a hatch so that Nicola can talk with visitors without having to give them access to the school. The Interactive Whiteboards we have been using were on loan from our landlord, DDLETB. This summer, however, we are buying 7 Interactive Whiteboards of our own, one for each classroom.Our sister school, Firhouse Educate Together NS, opened and we worked closely with them this year, sharing a support teacher, visiting each other’s schools and sharing teaching expertise. We were born of the same start-up group and are proud to share that strong and special history. Together this year, we created a time capsule and we look forward to getting together in 25 years to open it up!Our school continues to develop and we are excited about developing further and continuing to build our community. With pride and anticipation, Citywest Educate Together NS Board of Management.